OVERVIEW OF LYRICS

 

What Is A Lyric?

A lyric is a set of words that is meant to be sung. A poem is meant to be read. Lyrics follow melody lines, most poems do not. Lyrics rhyme—most modern poetry does not. While lyrics may use poetic devices like metaphor and alliteration, modern popular lyrics need to convey ideas in a conversational and accessible way.

What Is A Lyric?

Start with a strong opening line. The goal is to grab a listener’s attention and make him/her want to hear what is coming next. The first line—examples:

I got the call today, I didn’t want to hear, but I knew that it would come

I once had a girl—or should I say she once had me

I get a constant busy signal—when I call you on the phone

I met my old lover on the street last night

Well I woke up Sunday morning, with no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt

Your cheatin’ heart will make you weep

You never close your eyes anymore, when I kiss your lips

Is there anybody gonna listen to my story—all about the girl that came to stay

Last thing I remember is the freezing cold

Just take off your clothes, and I’ll drive you home, I said

I’ve dealt with my ghosts and I’ve faced all my demons

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…

Perfect and imperfect/slant/near rhyme

Perfect rhyme:

Buy/try/fly/cry/die/sigh/

Pace/face/embrace/lace/

Sun/begun/fun/

Imperfect or “slant” rhyme:

Embrace/taste/praise

Love/enough/brush

Internal sounds rather than ending sounds

Scope and focus: How large or small is your story? Remember, a song does not need to cover an entire lifetime, though it could. Just as easily it could cover a week, a day or a few minutes. It can be one experience, or a story that evolves over time. It can be linear or it can jump around in time, depending on how the story needs to be told. Like a novel, it may begin in present time but reach back into the past for important details.

It may focus on a single place and a single moment in time, and many of the best songs do just that. Rather than trying to put the totality of human experience in a song, the point of view narrows to one small slice—one story out of many.

Write ONE idea

Each line points to, or relates to the title of the song or theme. (proving a title). Attempt to separate the essence of the idea from all the possible side roads that the idea could follow. Again, get a focus.

The object is to find the focus of your story and to ask what is needed to tell it. Picture the event or scene in your mind and build the story around a central idea. Ask yourself what is important about what you desire to communicate and focus on that one thing. Narrow the idea down until it stands alone.

If one is writing a love song, focus on the one object of your desire, Don’t wander into the six other relationships you had in detail. It just confuses the listener. Put the emphasis on the love you have now.

Decide what the story is about before you write a word. 

Personal and Universal—At first, these two terms may seem to be mutually exclusive, but if a song is written the right way, the personal becomes the universal. The key lies in finding the universal feelings within the personal story.

Every human being has loved and lost—had relationships. Every person has followed dreams, attempted to be noble, to face adversity, to be a friend. Certain human experiences—hunger, love, sex, honor, shame, struggle, guilt, friendship, death, loss, joy,  celebration, ambivalence, raising a family, idealism, etc—are universal emotions or feelings. A good lyric is all about how the particulars of your experience are framed in regard to the universal human experiences. 

Writing a letter to somebody, as if it was written to someone close to you. Having a conversation at a table with a trusted friend.  Writing as if you are talking to yourself. By focusing on how you feel, you can tap into the feelings that everybody feels in life.

There are only so many human experiences. Within those, however, there are a thousand particular stories that reflect those human experiences. As a songwriter, you become a mirror, reflecting those universal stories back to others through your particular experiences and truths.

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Lyrical functions of verse, pre-chorus, chorus and bridge: Telling a story, unfolding it in stages.

Verse—The details of the story, the expansion of the idea, the bit by bit revealing of the idea. First verse begins with a line that opens up the story and, hopefully, draws in the listener’s curiosity to hear what comes next. We can keep the listener’s attention by revealing the story a piece at a time, setting up a situation or tension that seeks resolution. (kind of like the news hooks us with “story at eleven” or “coming up next.”)

The verse should also lead logically into the chorus, so that when we hear the title in the chorus it answers or completes the thought at the end of the verse.

The second verse expands and reveals more of the story.

Care should be taken not to give away too much too soon. If everything has been said in the first verse, where do you go from there?

Pre-chorus, build, lift or climb (four terms for the same thing). Acts as a build toward the chorus—adding a different shape to the verse—adding a rising tension or as a “bridge” to the actual chorus. It helps to “set up” the chorus—especially the title. This component is actually not used very often and is not a mandatory piece of a verse. When it is used, the climb melody is usually a bit higher than the verse, but not as high as the chorus.  

Chorus—the synopsis—the condensed expression of the idea. The simplification of the theme. We don’t want (generally) new details—we want a capsule expression of the whole idea of the song. The chorus melody is almost always the highest melody section. Could it also be the lowest? Yes. What we want is contrast. We want enough change to keep things interesting for the listener.

On certain occasions, a chorus can have alterations to its lines, when it is advantageous to move a story along in time or to add slight variations for the sake of keeping it interesting. (See ‘The Heart Of The Matter.” ) Despite the alterations, we want to keep the overall construction of the chorus intact. (See “Half Of My Heart”. )

Bridge—The bridge provides contrast, variation, a philosophical view—possibly from a different POV from the rest of the song. It can provide a boiling down—an “in other words” or a comment on the whole theme from a different perspective. It may also be a final conclusion or a wrapping up or summing up of the songs idea.

Questions.

Length of verses and chorus. There is no pre-set formula for the number of lines for a verse or chorus. General options would include the four or 8 line verse, or the four line verse with a two or four line pre-chorus. Remember the old axiom: don’t bore us—get to the chorus!

A concise chorus would be four lines, but could easily be eight lines.

Remember: we live in an era of the short attention span. The quicker we can get to a chorus and the faster we can complete that chorus and get on to the next verse, the more likelihood there is of keeping the listeners attention as the song moves along. 

Songs with long verses and choruses tend to “want” to be ABAB songs. When you have a shorter verse or chorus, time opens up to add a bridge.

Where to put the title—One device is to place the title at the end of the verse and then, place it in the first line of the chorus and again at the end of the chorus. (See “Poor Poor Pitiful Me. V1”) While this method can work, it can also introduce a redundancy and water down the title to a degree.

Another very effective placement is to reserve the title for the chorus only, placing it in the first line. A third method is to “bookend” the title, placing it in the first line and the last line of the chorus. I prefer this method, but I also like putting the title in the first line or the last line.

Another effective technique at times is to repeat the title ONLY in the chorus, with no other supporting lyrics. Some songs use only the title. Makes for an easy chorus write in the right kind of song.

Consider that the title is a hook. The more times the listener hears the title, the better the chance is that they will remember the title after they hear the song.

If the title ends in a difficult rhyme, it can be placed the line BEFORE the last. This is often effective. (The Moon’s A Harsh Mistress)

Tense—refers to the time the tale is told in.  The past? (Before The Deluge) The present? (Boys Of Summer).  The future?

A song can begin in past tense, viewing the past—and then move into the present if the story has a present time component—as in “now, here is what is happening today.” (Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner.” “Still Crazy After All These Years”)

The key here is to not confuse the listener in regard to time. If it is a tale told in a past time, make the past tense clear to the listener. Don’t jump around in time without a strong purpose. If it is present tense, the story is told in the “now”.  A song can explore the past and the present, but generally it will flow logically from one to the other. Avoid sudden shifts back and forth between the past and the present because such shifts introduce confusion.

Tense—

Past—I was playing guitar

Present-I am playing guitar

Future—I will be playing guitar

While a song does not need to adhere strictly to tense, it is good practice to maintain tense section to section and not jump back and forth. Follow tense like you would in a conversation:

Virgil Kane is my name

And I rode on the Danville train

Till Stoneman’s calvary came and tore up the tracks again

In the winter of sixty five

We were hungry—just barely alive

By May the 10^th,. Richman had fell

It’s a time I remember oh so well

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Point Of View—The point of view that the story is told and seen by. As in literature, there are several points of view.

1. First person singular. Told from the limited personal view of the singer, from his/her own vantage point in life.  First person plural—“we”.
2. Second person—singing to the “you” or sung to a particular person—as if you are talking to them. Can be a general or specific “you.” Careful not to preach. Just the Way You Look Tonight.
3. Third person—he, she, they and the collective “we”.

In general, its good practice to stick to the point of view you start with to avoid confusion on the part of the listener. If it is beneficial to change the point of view, do it consistently. In “Lyin’ Eyes” by the Eagles, the verses are all in third person but the choruses are written in second person. 

Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” shifts from first person in the verses to first person plural and alternately, third person in the choruses.

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